Advertising display



June 19, 1962 Filed April 14 1961 T 1 3&1.

E. C. UIHLEIN ETAL ADVERTISING DISPLAY 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 J'muwfiw Erwm 51 1712122221 3 var A, Jar ans'an wrk June 19, 1962 c, ulHLElN ETAL 3,039,615

ADVERTISING DISPLAY Filed April 14, 1961 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 mJno-vgwa Erwm U. UzZ'zZem June 19, 1962 CHUIHLEIN ETAL 3,039,615

ADVERTISING DISPLAY 3 Sheets-$heet 3 Filed April 14, 1961 d mJm-rfiw Erwm E1 Uzhlem Er A J EUSETZ Slll Filed Apr. 14, 1961, Ser. No. 103,127 11 Claims. (Cl. 2111.6)

The invention relates to advertising display devices and has as a general object the provision of an improved display device comprising a pair of articles mounted in superimposed display positions with the lower article rotatable about a first upright axis and the upper article rotatable relative to the lower one and also caused to move orbitally therewith.

In a more specific sense, this invention has for its objective the provision of a display device of the character described wherein the lower article of the device is constructed to simulate a six-pack beverage carton with side-by-side pairs of cylindrical beverage containers exposed to View in the opposite open ends of the carton, and wherein the upper article comprises another beverage container similar to those in the carton, mounted on the top of the carton for rotation therewith and for rotation relative thereto.

Another purpose of the invention resides in the provision of a display device of the character described which features an especially neat and attractive arrangement of upper and lower articles, and which includes electric motor driven means housed within a hollow inner body part on the lower article, for imparting rotation to both articles.

In this connection, it is a further purpose of this invention to provide exceptionally simple drive transmission means between the electric motor and both the upper and lower articles of which the display device is comprised.

Another object of this invention resides in the provision of an advertising display device of the character described wherein the lower article which simulates a sixpack beverage carton comprises a rigid hollow inner body portion housing the electric motor and drive transmission means, and a carton simulating wrapper encircling and supported by the inner body portion and cooperating with upright side walls thereof to define a compartrnent in each open end of the wrapper to receive a pair of upright cylindrical containers in side-by-side relation therein with the containers held against displacement from the wrapper by flaps thereon that engage rim portions of the containers.

Still another object of this invention resides in the provision of a display device of the character described wherein the electric motor has a positive torque transmitting connection with the carton simulating lower article, and wherein the upper article or container which is caused to move orbitally with the lower article is rotated relatively to the lower article by means of a friction type drive transmission means that is rendered operative as a consequence of orbital motion of the upper article with the lower article.

With the above and other objects in view which will appear as the description proceeds, this invention resides in the novel construction, combination and arrangement of parts substantially as hereinafiter described and more particularly defined by the appended claims, it being understood that such changes in the precise embodiment of the herein disclosed invention may be made as come within the scope of the claims.

The accompanying drawings illustrate one complete example of the physical embodiment of the invention constructed according to the best mode so far devised for 3,39fil5, Patented June 19, 1%2

the practical application of the principles thereof, and in which:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of the display device of this invention, with portions of the carton simulating wrapper on the lower article broken away to show internal construction;

FIGURE 2 is a perspective View similar to FIGURE 1 but on an enlarged scale, with the carton simulating wrapper removed from the lower article and portions of its inner body broken away to show the drive transmission means;

FIGURE 3 is a vertical sectional view through the display device of this invention; and

FIGURE 4 is a detail sectional view taken through FIGURE 3 on the plane of the line 44, and at an enlarged scale.

Referring now more particularly to the accompanying rawings, the numeral 3 designates the base of the display device of this invention, and which is adapted to be seated upon a table, shelf, or other horizontal supporting surface in order to present the display device to its best advantage. Mounted upon the base are superimposed upper and lower bodies 4 and '5, respectively, which comprise the articles to be displayed.

The base 3 is preferably hollow and of frusto conical shape. Its sides taper outwardly toward the bottom of the base, and its small diameter end is uppermost and has a horizontal disc 6 aflixed thereto. The side wall of the base 3 also has an entrance aperture therein (not shown) to admit an electric supply cord 7 to the space within the base, and the cord is trained upwardly through a central hole 8 in the plate 6.

The articles 4- and 5 are supported in a position over the base by means of a standard, generally designated 10, mounted on the plate 6 and projecting vertically upwardly therefrom, as shown best in FIGURE 2. The standard comprises a pair of upright posts 11 having their lower ends anchored to the plate 6 at diametrically opposite sides of the central hole 8 therein. The upper ends of the posts are rigidly joined by a bridge comprising a horizontal strap 12 having its opposite ends seated upon the tops of the posts, and an inverted U-shaped bearing block 13 having outwardly directed flanges 14 on the extremities of its legs overlying the opposite ends of the strap 12.

Screws 15 passing downwardly through registering holes in the flanges and the extremities of the strap 12 are threaded into the upper ends of the posts 11 to secure the bridge thereto.

The bight 17 of the block 13 forms part of a bearing structure at the top of the standard from which the lower article is supported for rotation about a fixed upright axis. This bearing structure includes a disc 18 having a bearing sleeve or bushing 19 vertically secured in a central hole in the disc. The lower end portion of the sleeve 19 is pressed into a central aperture in the bight portion 17 of the bearing block, and its upper end portion 21 projects above the top face 22 of the disc at the extreme top of the standard to provide a thrust bearing for a purpose to be described shortly.

The bushing 19 is mounted in the bight portion 17 of the bearing block so as to be coaxial with the base and with the upwardly projecting end portion 24 of the drive shaft of an electric motor 25'. The motor is secured to the underside of the strap 12 on the standard in any suitable way, with the motor situated between the posts 11 of the standard, and supplied with current from the service cord 7.

The lower article 5 is of hollow construction, and com-. prises an inner body portion 29 and an outer body portion which comprises a carton simulating wrapper 30 of paperboard or the like of the type used in 6-pack beverage cartons. The inner body portion 29' is made of sheet metal formed up into the form of a tube consisting of four fiat rectangular panels that provide a pair of opposite fiat upright side walls 31 and 32, and horizontal top and bottom walls 33 and 34 respectively. The length of the panels is equal to approximately twice the diameter of the cylin drical beverage containers 35 which form a part of the lower article and pairs of which are received within the opposite open ends of the carton simulating wrapper 30 to lie against the upright side walls 31' and 32 of the inner body portion 29.

The paperboard wrapper 30 is applied to the sheet metal inner body portion 23 with its opposite side panels 37 extending across and beyond the open ends of the inner body portion and with its top and bottom panels 38 and 39, respectively, covering the outer surfaces of the top and bottom panels 33 and 34, respectively, of the inner body portion.

The length of the panels comprising the carton simulating wrapper 30 and the placement of the latter on the inner body portion is such that each open end portion of the wrapper extends a distance beyond the adjacent side panels 31 and 32 of the inner body portion corresponding to about one-half of the diameter of a beverage container 35. Consequently, the end portions of the carton simulating wrapper cooperate with the side walls of the inner body portion to define compartments in which pairs of beverage containers 35 may be received with the outer sides of the containers exposed to view.

Inturned flaps 41, at the corner portions of the top and bottom panels of the carton simulating wrapper, engage the insides of the upstanding rims 42 at the top of the containers 35, to hold them against the side walls of the inner body portion 29 to thus preclude displacement of the containers 35 from the wrapper 30.

It is important to note that the opposite side panels 37 of the carton simulating wrapper 30 extend across the open ends of the inner body portion 29 and thus cooperate with the walls of the latter to define a housing in which the standard and all of the working parts of the display device of this invention are enclosed.

It should be observed, however, that the bottom panels of both the carton simulating wrapper and the inner body portion 29 have a large circular aperture 44 cut therein of a size great enough to receive the standard including the bearing structure at its top, to facilitate assembly of the lower body or article onto the base. In its assembled position shown best in FIGURE 3, the bottom of the lower article is spaced only a short distance above the plate 6 on the top of the base, and the standard with the motor and bearing structure are nicely housed within the hollow interior of the lower article or body.

The lower body or article is supported from the base by means of a spindle 46 that is fixed to the top panel 33 of the inner body portion 29 to project vertically downwardly therefrom. The spindle is rotatably received in the bore of the bushing 19 so that the latter constrains the lower body to rotate about a vertical axis relative to the base 5. The spindle has an enlarged upper portion 47 which seats upon the upper end 21 of the bushing so that the latter provides a thrust bearing to receive the weight of the display device.

It will also be noted that the spindle 46 projects entirely through the bushing 19 and beyond the bight 17 of the bearing block toward the drive shaft 24 of the electric motor 25. The spindle may be coaxially drivingly connected with the upwardly projecting drive shaft 24 in any suitable manner. In the present case, the spindle has a bore in its lower end to receive the shaft, and it also has a cross slot 49 therein to receive a cross pin 50 in the upper end of the shaft.

Consequently whenever the electric motor 25 is energized, it will rotate the lower article or body 5 about the vertical axis of the bearing structure at the top of the standard. The electric motor 25 preferably rotates the lower article at a slow rate, namely about five to ten revolutions per minute. This assures that advertising media imprinted upon the carton simulating wrapper 30 will be readily legible.

The upper article or body 4 preferably comprises an upright cylindrical container 35' which may be of exactly the same size as the containers 35 carried by the lower body or of similar shape but having larger dimensions. As is customary the container 35 has circular end walls 52 at its top and bottom, joined by a cylindrical side wall 54 that is secured to the end walls by the customary rimlike bead 55.

The upper article or beverage container 35' may be mounted upon the top of the lower article for rotation relative thereto in any suitable manner. In the present case it is supported for such rotation by the engagement of a pin 57, coaxially secured to the bottom end wall 52 of the container, in a tubular bearing member 58 which is fixed on the top panel 33 of the inner body portion 29 near one side wall 31 thereof. For purposes of securement, the bearing member 58 may have a flange 59 at its lower end fiatwise seated upon the upper surface of the top panel 33 of the inner body portion and fastened thereto as by welding. The tubular upper portion of the bearing member, of course, projects upwardly through a suitable hole in the top of the wrapper 30.

According to this invention, the bearing member 58 is disposed with its axis more or less up right, but at a pronounced angle of inclination to the axis about which the lower article rotates. This inclination may be such that the container 35 is held tilted out of vertical to have its lower bead or rim 55 travel in a path which closely approaches the top of the lower body at a zone which lies directly above a marginal edge portion of the disc 18 on the top of the standard 10, and near the top of the side wall 32 of the inner body portion 29. The top of the lower body is formed with an aperture 62 at that zone, to enable the bead or rim 55 on the container 35' to frictionally but drivingly engage the upper peripheral surface of an idler wheel 64 carried by the lower body, in the upper portion of its interior. The lower peripheral portion of the idler wheel rides upon the upper surface 22 of the stationary disc so that the wheel will be rotated on its axis in consequence of orbital travel thereof with the rotating lower article.

As shown best in FIGURE3, the upper body or con tainer 35' is supported by means at one side of the axis of rotation of the lower body while its lower rim or bead 55 engages the idler wheel 64 at the opposite side of the axis about which the lower body rotates.

As stated, the idler wheel 64 is carried by the lower body, to travel bodily therewith and for that purpose it is received in the outer bifurcated end of a lever arm 68 to rotate freely upon an axle defining pin 69 secured in the bifurcations of the arm with its axis horizontal. The other end portion of the arm is offset slightly to lie fiatwise against the adjacent side wall 32 of the inner body portion 29, and it is pivotally mounted thereon by a pivot pin 70 so that the arm may swing up and down and ride freely upon the marginal portion of the disc 18 without transferring any of the load of the lower article thereto.

When the lower body or article 5 is rotated by the electric'rnotor, therefore, the idler wheel will move bodily with it and it will also be rotated on its axle .69 by its frictional engagement with the upper surface of the disc 18. Since the lower rim 55 of the container or upper article 35 is frictionally engaged with the upper peripheral portion of the idler wheel, rotation of the latter on its axle will be translated into rotational movement of the upper body or container 35 about its inclined axis relative to the lower body. Consequently, the upper body will not only rotate about itsown axis but it will also move orbitally with the lower body during rotation thereof by the electric motor 25. 7

Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the described manner of transmitting rotation to the upper body or container 35 relative to the lower body, as a consequence of rotation of the lower body by the electric motor 25, is susceptible to modification in different ways. For example, the lower bead or rim 55 on the container 35 could be extended downwardly through the opening 62 in the top of the lower body for direct engagement with the upper surface 22 of the disc 18 if the latter were positioned closer to the top wall of the lower body.

In that case the upper article or container would not only rotate orbitally with the lower body, but it would rotate on its axis relative to the lower body in a direction opposite to the direction of rotation of the lower body. In the present case, the idler wheel 64 causes the container or upper body to be rotated on its axis in the same direction as the lower body.

It will also be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the speed at which the upper body or container 35' is rotated relative to the lower body may be predetermined and varied, as by suitable selection of the diameter of the idler wheel 64 and the distance from the axis of rotation of the lower body at which the idler wheel engages the upper surface 22 of the disc 18.

Alternatively, the driving connection between the disc 18 and the upper body or container 35 could be effected by extension of the pin 57 on the bottom of the container into the upper portion of the lower body so that it might have a surface thereon to frictionally engage the disc 18.

In the present case, the proportions of the parts which comprise the frictional driving connection to the upper body 35' are so selected that the upper body or container rotates at a slightly faster speed than the lower body, as on the order of 3 revolutions to each 2 revolutions of the lower body. These proportions, of course, are optional.

From the foregoing description taken together with the accompanying drawings, it will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art that this invention provides an improved display device featuring exceptionally simple means for transmitting motions at different speeds from an electric motor to the upper and lower articles of which the device is comprised, and by which motions an exceptional degree of eye appeal is achieved.

What is claimed as our invention is:

1. In a display device: a base; an electric motor carried by the base; a shaft driven by the motor; a hollow lower article; cooperating means carried by the base and said lower article at its interior to support the article for rotation about a fixed substantially upright axis with the article located over the base; means providing a rotation transmitting connection between said shaft and article; an upper article located over the lower article; means supporting said upper article from the lower article for bodily movement therewith and for rotation relative to the lower article about an upright axis inclined and fixed with respect to said lower article; and means operable in consequence of bodily movement of said upper article with the lower article during motor produced rotation of the latter to transmit rotation to said upper article about its axis relative to the lower article, said means including a member fixed with respect to the base and located in the interior of said lower article.

2. In a display device: a base; a motor carried by the base; a shaft driven by the motor; a. hollow lower body; cooperating means carried by the base and said body at the interior of the body supporting the latter for rotation about a fixed substantially upright axis; means providing a rotation transmitting connection between said shaft and the lower body; an upper body located over the lower body; means supporting said upper body from the lower body for movement bodily therewith and for rotation relative to the lower body about an upright axis fixed with respect to the lower body; and means including a member supported in a fixed location inside the lower body providing a rotation transmitting connection between the shaft and the upper body by which the latter may be rotationally driven about said axis thereof relative to the lower body.

3. The display device of claim 2, wherein said lower body has means on its exterior simulating a carton having open opposite end portions; and further characterized by a pair of upright cylindrical containers mounted in sideby-side positions in each of said open end portions of the carton simulating means, with the outer side portions of said containers exposed to view.

4. The display device of claim 3, wherein said lower body comprises a hollow inner body portion of sheet metal enclosed by and supporting said carton simulating means; and wherein said carton simulating means comprises a paperboard wrapper secured in position upon the inner body portion and having means thereon engaging said containers to preclude outward displacement of the containers from the open end portions of the wrapper.

5. The display device of claim 4 wherein said inner body portion has opposite upright fiat side walls against which said containers engage and which cooperate with wall portions of said wrapper and the container engaging means thereon to preclude substantially all motion of the containers relative to the lower body.

6. The display device of claim 5, wherein opposite side walls of the carton simulating wrapper cooperate with walls of said inner body portion to provide an enclosure housing the electric motor and the rotation transmitting connections between it and said bodies.

7. In a display device; a base; a hollow lower body carried by the base at the top thereof for rotation about a fixed substantially upright axis; an electric motor carried by the base and housed within said lower body; a shaft driven by the motor; means providing a rotation transmitting connection between said shaft and the lower body; an upper body located over said lower body and comprising a container having circular top and bottom walls and a cylindrical side wall joining the same; cooperating means on the top of the lower body and the bottom wall of the container supporting the latter in a substantially upright position on the lower body, for bodily orbital movement therewith, and for rotation relative to the lower body about an upright axis which is fixed with respect to the lower body and at an inclination to the axis about which the lower body rotates; and means including a member supported in a fixed position in the upper portion of the lower body providing a rotation transmitting connection between the shaft and the container by which the container is rotated about said axis thereof relative to the lower body during rotation of the latter about its axis.

8. In a display device, the combination of: a base; a lower body supported on the base for rotation about a first upright axis; an upper body carried by the lower body for orbital movement therewith and for rotation relative to the lower body about a second upright axis which is inclined with respect to said first axis; an electric motor carried by the base; drive transmission means operatively connecting the motor with the lower body; and other drive transmission means operatively connecting the motor with the upper body for rotating the same relative to the lower body.

9. The display device of claim 8, wherein said lower body is hollow; and wherein said last named means comprises a member fixedly connected to the base and located within the upper portion of the lower body, and means providing a frictional driving connection between said member and the upper body.

:10. The display device of claim 9, wherein said frictional driving connection is provided by a freely rotatable idler wheel carried by the lower body to travel orbitally therewith and having frictional engagement with both portion received in said aperture and frictionally engaged with said bottom rim on the container.

said fixed member and a part connected with said upper body.

11. The display device of claim 10 wherein said upper body comprises a substantially upright cylindrical con- References Cited in the file of this Pattent tainer having a bottom rim; wherein the top of the lower 5 body has an aperture therein directly beneath a portion UNITED STATES PATENTS of said bottom rim on the container; and wherein said 1,470,217 Claus Oct. 9, 1923 idler wheel has its lower peripheral portion frictionally 2,079,303 Pinner May 4, 1937 engaged with said fixed member and its upper peripheral 2,102,982 Taylor Dec. 21, 1937 

